Pictorial assessment of interests: Development and evaluation of Pictorial and Descriptive Interest Inventory

Abstract

The Pictorial and Descriptive Interest Inventory (PDII) is a new measure of RIASEC interest types. In PDII respondents evaluate liking and competence in 48 different occupations, which are represented with photographs of people involved in typical job activities, job titles and short job descriptions. After completing the questionnaire the system provides career advice to clients, with regard to their obtained RIASEC scores. The instrument is available on-line at www.careerassessment.eu (English version) and www.karijera.hr (Croatian version). In order to evaluate the new PDII measure we collected responses from 528 elementary school students (15years old), 641 high school students (18years old), and 776 university students (21years old). The results showed good reliability of all RIASEC scales in all subsamples. Structural validity was also verified as the presence of circular structure of RIASEC types and people–things and data–ideas underlying dimensions was confirmed. Moreover, relations to PGI RIASEC scales and gender mean differences in interest also confirm construct validity of PDII. At last, respondents reported high satisfaction with PDII and the given e-advice. Therefore our results show that PDII is reliable and a valid RIASEC measure that can be used as an Internet-based self-evaluation tool, which can be helpful in the process of making career decisions.